Kit versus Skills?

[Man of Tanith]

Ach - the droopy face is nothing to fear!
I have had mine for years now (only one go of BP but with permanent results!) - you, your loved ones and most everyone gets used to the new look
Get well soon!

on the steroids yet again
just a bit irksome last time it was due to camping in -15 temps
this time i have no understanding of the cause unless it is stress?
fingers crossed the meds will sort it out
thanks for the well wishes

 

[dwardo]

I have read through both threads in quesiton here and pretty much everthing has been said.
I fall in to the young family, partner made redundant and being self employed my wage has also taken a good kicking recently.

What i do find a little patronissing is the "just eat one less takeaway a month" approach, sorry but thats how it comes across. For starters eating one less take away a month would pretty much be having no takeaway and i doubt the £11 a month would go any where near to paying for a course thats near a £1000. Also why should my missus and my little boy miss out on a treat once a month (not the take-awaylol) so i can go play explorer in the arctic? Dont get me wrong i would like to go but still its no where near the top of my list beautful scenery no doubt but i couldnt see me taking that much away from it. I am pretty happy camping in the worst of the british weather and thats enough to get me out for the odd weekend once in a while, which costs me only my food and water, maybe a little fuel.

It also seems like we may be making up these people who spend £1000`s on kit and never use it, i personaly dont know of anyone who fits this stereotype. Yes i see the odd woodlore knife go for sale but they people who buy them tend to also be very hands on and are just lucky enough to have spare cash and they are more a minority in my experience.

I guess my main point is that the needs of my family top trump my hobbies every time and if i have spare cash the family comes first and why shouldnt they.
Now in regards to kit obviously being skint puts a cap on that but spending the odd £10 on a second hand day sack or even saving up to buy something a little more shiney pales in comparison to taking a week or more off the little precious time we have free, spending £100`s - £1000`s at the same time is just well out of reach, and i expect we are not alone in this sinking boat with a hole in the hull

It also seems that the "expedition" based courses seem to be placed upon a plinth as an atainment of some kind of bushcrafting elite with an almost "your not a bushcrafter unless you have been on said course."
Maybe a bit of a strong term but i consider a lot of other skills just as important such as wood craft, bowyery, basket working, tool making, utensil making, plant and animal ID, wild food, home cultivation and sustainability, tracking and many others. All of which we can learn the basics through shared knowledge, books, this forum and others and mostly the only investment is a few quid and our time.

Thats my take on things, hope no one is offended and I have enjoyed this discussion/debate thanks.

 

[John Fenna]

on the steroids yet again
just a bit irksome last time it was due to camping in -15 temps
this time i have no understanding of the cause unless it is stress?
fingers crossed the meds will sort it out
thanks for the well wishes

Stress, a chill, a draught, direct blow or just a nasty little virus that hides away between attacks
Mine was direct blow to the nerve (sparring) that bruised the nerve and when it swelled the nerve crushed itself to death in the bones....
When I am ill, tired, stressed etc the face saggs more noticably and the cramps in the surrounding muscles (which try to compensate) get worse...
The cold also affects it all - but the beard gives insulation as well as comouflage

 

[Squidders]

I'm just going to comment on this bit as it's the only bit that applies to me really...

"pay for something shiny than pay for skills and experience"

I really would 100% rather pay for kit than skills and experience as when you pay for said skills and experience, you are actually paying for someone elses skills and experience. You can develop your own skills and gain experience completely free of charge! To have skill and experience does not depend on who you gave your money to but how much enthusiasm you have for a subject and how much you try things.

I admit, with a good instructor, you have much more chance of picking things up faster but as the post was on a forum on the internet, there is more information available to an interested party than one school or instructor could hope to teach. So for the cost of a course you could look something up for free (you're online reading this post anyway!) wander out into your back garden and try it out.

With the money you saved you can then buy some nice kit that will have a real value if you need to free up some cash at a later date and you still have your skill and experience.

A solid example of this is a bright orange mora I have on my desk infront of me here... it was under £10 to buy and I didn't have to plan for it or book flights... and it gave me a burst of enthusiasm when it arrived to sit down and make a load of stuff and be all crafty. Amazing value for money and I get to sell the knife for a fiver if I need to buy a beer.

Don't get me wrong, I have been on courses and I am a big fan of them... But trying to divide people and categorize them based on this thinking seems mad to me and I don't like the idea of being pigeonholed. If I spent every penny I had in my "shrafting fund" on courses I would have more knowledge than I do now for sure... but I would also end up wandering around the woods in my work clothes and nothing to do as I had no kit with which to shraft. It's not kit Vs skill as one without the other is a bit pointless.